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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Bark louder, little dog.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

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People are complicated. Love is not.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

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When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Monday Morning Open Thread: The End of the Beginning

Monday Morning Open Thread: The End of the Beginning

by Anne Laurie|  March 27, 20176:47 am| 186 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It), All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

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ok it is time again for that wiener dog running happily on the baseball field it is spring training season so here is that wiener dog for u pic.twitter.com/09M40HcCWB

— darth™ (@darth) March 25, 2017

A BFD win, if we can keep it — and for once, it looks like we just might. Per the NYTimes, “Democrats, Buoyed by G.O.P. Health Defeat, See No Need to Offer Hand”:

…Invigorated by the Republican dysfunction that led to a stunningly swift collapse of the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and relieved that President Barack Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment remains intact, Democrats are in their best position since their embarrassing loss in the November election.

While it is far too soon to suggest that the House Republican majority may be imperiled, Democrats are newly optimistic about picking up seats in 2018, hoping to ride a backlash against Mr. Trump. Seeing an opportunity, they say they will not throw Mr. Trump a political life preserver at what they sense could be the first turns of a downward spiral.

The president’s approval rating was already mired below 40 percent in some surveys, and is likely to remain low after the health bill’s failure. He has no prospects for legislative victories on the immediate horizon, given how complicated and time-consuming his next priority, an overhaul of the tax code, would be even for a more unified party.

And while his electoral success in states represented by Democrats in Congress had been thought to put such lawmakers in a vise between their party and their president, Mr. Trump demonstrated no ability to pick off centrist Democrats in his first significant legislative push. Democrats — red-state moderates and blue-state liberals alike — formed an unbroken front of opposition to the repeal-and-replace campaign…

Though the ability of Democrats to do much more than say no remains limited, their success in helping to thwart Mr. Trump will not only embolden them to confront him again — it will also inspire activists to push them to do whatever it takes to block his path.

“Having tasted victory, the resistance forces will feel even more empowered to insist that Democrats continue withholding any cooperation and not granting Trump any victories when he is so wounded,” said Brian Fallon, a Democratic strategist…

Cult-of-the-Savvy high priest and Politico founder Mike Allen, at his new brand Axios:

… It’s hard to overstate the magnitude of the Day 64 defeat. President Trump, who made repeal-and-replace a central theme of his campaign, and House Republicans, who made it the central theme of every campaign since 2010, lost in a publicly humiliating way despite controlling every branch of government and enjoying margins in the House rarely seen in the past century.

This virtually guarantees no substantive legislative achievements in the first 100 days. And it creates rifts and suspicions and second-guessing that make governing much harder.

What’s on the agenda as we start the new week?

America: so sick of all the winning. https://t.co/oGWnNE0dZ5 pic.twitter.com/Nt6AoJSUjR

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) March 26, 2017

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Previous Post: « So now what?
Next Post: Jared Kushner’s “SWAT Team”: Early Contender for Dumbest Idea of the Week »

Reader Interactions

186Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 6:53 am

    “Democrats, Buoyed by G.O.P. Health Defeat, See No Need to Offer Hand”:

    I’m willing to give them a finger.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 27, 2017 at 6:53 am

    What’s on the agenda as we start the new week?

    Laughter. Lots and lots of laughter.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 6:56 am

    Mr. Trump demonstrated no ability to pick off centrist Democrats in his first significant legislative push. Democrats — red-state moderates and blue-state liberals alike — formed an unbroken front of opposition to the repeal-and-replace campaign…

    Thanks, Pelosi and Schumer.

  4. 4.

    Waspuppet

    March 27, 2017 at 6:57 am

    Mr. Trump demonstrated no ability to pick off centrist Democrats in his first significant legislative push.

    This will be the challenge going forward. I don’t see Manchin et al voting against tax cuts for billionaires.

    Which in turn underscores how much of a blunder going for ACA repeal first was. I know about the “genius” plan whereby doing this first set the stage for permanent rather than temporary tax cuts, but still.

  5. 5.

    bystander

    March 27, 2017 at 6:59 am

    Now if Schumer can put a sock in Manchin’s mouth over Gorsuch…

    I’m having fun thinking about the call Trump got from Putin after the demos this weekend in Russia. Wonder if it was anything like the reaming Trump wanted to give ZEGS.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    March 27, 2017 at 7:02 am

    Don’t put those phones down.

    This is our last chance to save critical online privacy protections.
    Take part in the action!

    We are one vote away from a world where your ISP can track your every move online and sell that information to the highest bidder. Call your lawmakers now and tell them to protect federal online privacy rules.
    [snip]
    The Senate voted last week 50-48 on a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to repeal the FCC’s privacy rules. Now the resolution heads over the House, where it’s scheduled to get a vote on Tuesday.
    [snip]
    Call your lawmakers today and tell them to oppose S.J. Res. 34, which would repeal the FCC’s broadband privacy rules. Source

    All this was seen as coming from last fall.

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    March 27, 2017 at 7:05 am

    Kind of important call to action comment in moderation. Please to liberate.

    Meanwhile, the vital link is here.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    March 27, 2017 at 7:06 am

    Testing. (2 comments went *poof*)

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 27, 2017 at 7:09 am

    The 712-page Google doc that proves Muslims do condemn terrorism

    For the next time your RWNJ uncle goes off on a facebook rant about “radical Islamic terrorism”.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    March 27, 2017 at 7:11 am

    Trying again.

    Until/if comments released from limbo, today is the one and only day to call your House reps to tell them to oppose S.J. Res. 34, which repeals the FCC’s broadband privacy (net neutrality) rules. House vote supposed to happen on Tuesday.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 7:13 am

    @NotMax: Privacy is only one aspect of net neutrality.

    What’s funny is watching all the Bros on Reddit realize that being a libertarian means deregulating big business. They are mad at Rand Paul at sponsoring the privacy repeal bill (although he was too cowardly to vote on it).

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    March 27, 2017 at 7:15 am

    Ah, liberation. Thanks, Anne.

  13. 13.

    amk

    March 27, 2017 at 7:16 am

    Eight years of no, no, no, NO, NO, NO … from the rethugs.

    Dems better remember that.

  14. 14.

    debbie

    March 27, 2017 at 7:16 am

    @Baud:

    Also loudly and constantly remind them just how much of a hand they offered to the previous president.

  15. 15.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 7:17 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 7:18 am

    We begin the fight anew.
    Onward Ho!??

  17. 17.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 7:18 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 7:20 am

    They announced that Kushner is running a “SWAT Team” to run the government like a bidness- the nepotism is gross and bad for America, but besides that isn’t that almost an admission that they can’t get anything thru Congress?

    It’s what lame duck Presidents do- tweak the executive branch. Trump has congressional majorities.

    I give Ivanka and her husband credit. They managed to come out clean from that piece of shit health care bill by running away. They’re really A-1 self-promoters. Real talent in that area.

  19. 19.

    amk

    March 27, 2017 at 7:20 am

    Bennett

  20. 20.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    March 27, 2017 at 7:20 am

    I hate the Alt-Left and everything they stand for. That said, I have my doubts about Schumer.

    He’s a half a step away from being Vichy.

    If Claude Rains wasn’t dead he would be perfect for the role of Schumer (video)

  21. 21.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 7:20 am

    @debbie: GMA this morning:. Trump can be a transformational president now by reaching out to Democrats, but he needs to fundamentally change who he is as a person.

    LOL.

  22. 22.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 7:21 am

    Never forget:
    Trumpcare was just a tax cut bill disguised as a healthcare plan. Without it, the ZEGK’S plans for ending the American Social Safety Net are going to have to be out in the open.

    Now, we can highlight all attempts by Price to hurt Obamacare.

    The fight continues.

    But, don’t let anyone minimize the importance of what happened Friday.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 7:25 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Nah. Schumer is so much savvier than Trump. If they work together, Trump will be his bitch.

  24. 24.

    geg6

    March 27, 2017 at 7:26 am

    @Baud:

    That was Jon Karl, who should be one of the first up against the wall. Idiot.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 7:27 am

    Thank God Hillary the Hawk isn’t president

    Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has asked the White House to lift Obama-era restrictions on U.S. military support for Persian Gulf states engaged in a protracted civil war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to senior Trump administration officials.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 7:28 am

    @geg6: Karl and Dowd. Dowd said the italicized part.

  27. 27.

    debbie

    March 27, 2017 at 7:28 am

    @geg6:

    Unbelievable. I believe the expression is “like a tiger can change its stripes.”

  28. 28.

    PsiFighter37

    March 27, 2017 at 7:30 am

    Apparently Trump spent Saturday golfing, and an hour Sunday at his golf club watching golf(?!), and the WH lied about both.

    What a lazy morherfucker. Seriously, even a kindergarten student works harder than this clown does.

  29. 29.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    March 27, 2017 at 7:31 am

    Hhahahahhahaha

    Congress has only 8 work days scheduled in April (and 2 of those days are 1/2 days).

    May is no better: 12 work days, but 6 of them are half days.

    Pretty hard to put together a large bill when everyone is always on vac-kay.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 7:31 am

    Trump smears shit on everything he touches. No one comes away from an encounter or alliance with Donald Trump better off. No one. Democrats should stay away for that reason only. This isn’t complicated. He’s a disaster as a human being and that can’t be fixed with a “better approach”. Everything else runs from that basic truth.

    Trump could have opposed that piece of shit bill and nipped this in the bud but he didn’t because he’s a bad person. He does not care what happens to people and their health care. He cares about himself. He was fine with the bill when he thought backing it meant he could rack up “wins”.

    Forget “policy”. Trump is a liar and a cheat. They can’t negotiate with a person like that.

  31. 31.

    Just One More Canuck

    March 27, 2017 at 7:32 am

    “Democrats, Buoyed by G.O.P. Health Defeat, See No Need to Offer Hand”

    I disagree – I think they should offer Trump a hand – with an anchor in it

  32. 32.

    Soprano2

    March 27, 2017 at 7:36 am

    I’m willing to give Republicans an anvil. They get nothing else.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 7:36 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Pelosi’s house worked hard. The GOP Congress has always been lazy.

  34. 34.

    satby

    March 27, 2017 at 7:37 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning! And it is, for folks like me on Obamacare. For the time being, anyway.

  35. 35.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    March 27, 2017 at 7:37 am

    Charlie Sykes @SykesCharlie

    Trump officially now has worst first 100 Days of any president.And that includes William Henry Harrison.

    377 replies 3,993 retweets 10,303 likes

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 27, 2017 at 7:39 am

    @Kay: Not to mention there was never a deal negotiated with Trump that he didn’t breach before the ink was dry.

  37. 37.

    geg6

    March 27, 2017 at 7:43 am

    @Baud:

    Yeah, I turned it off as soon as Karl started yammering about Dolt 45 being transformational. So much stupid this early on a Monday is more than I can take.

  38. 38.

    germy

    March 27, 2017 at 7:43 am

    In the weeks following the election, Trump and Schumer engaged in a political dance that played out half in private, half in public. Comparing Schumer with his predecessor, Harry Reid, Trump tweeted, “I have always had a good relationship with Chuck Schumer. He is far smarter than Harry R and has the ability to get things done. Good news!” The President-elect phoned the Senator several times just, it seemed, to schmooze.

    “Sometimes he’d call me—I wouldn’t know why,” Schumer told me. “He’d just chat.” In one of these chats, the New York Post reported, Trump told Schumer that he had warmer feelings toward him than he had toward his fellow-Republicans Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

    As President, Trump opened his first official meeting with congressional leaders by reciting the names of friends he and Schumer had in common. Later, he reminisced about a fund-raiser he’d held at Schumer’s request. Trump boasted that the gathering, at his Mar-a-Lago estate, in Palm Beach, had raised two million dollars for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Schumer corrected him: it was a little more than two hundred and sixty thousand. (Over the years, Trump and his family have donated roughly sixteen thousand dollars to Schumer’s own Senate committee.)

    “I enjoyed the President and Senator Schumer talking about all the people they knew in New York,” McConnell observed dryly when the meeting was over.

    Schumer, for his part, indicated that he and Trump might find common ground. “Changing our trade laws dramatically, a large infrastructure bill, cleaning up the swamp in Washington—these are things that Democrats have always stood for and, frankly, Republicans have always been against,” he said on “Meet the Press,” in November. “So we’re going to challenge President Trump to work with us on those issues.”

    Since then, Schumer has taken an increasingly hard line. The day after the demonstration at the Supreme Court, he voted no on the nomination of Elaine Chao to be Secretary of Transportation. The vote was seen as particularly significant, because Chao is McConnell’s wife. (In 1989, Elizabeth Dole, the wife of Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, was nominated to be Secretary of Labor. As the Washington Post noted, the idea of Majority Leader George Mitchell voting against her “would have been unimaginable. But the Senate, it is a changin’.”) Schumer has voted no on all but two of the Cabinet nominees to come up for confirmation since Chao. These include Jeff Sessions, now the Attorney General; Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency; Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary; Betsy DeVos, the Education Secretary; and Ben Carson, the Housing Secretary.

    “I have surprised myself,” he said at one point. “Even though this is a total change for me in so many ways, I enjoy waking up in the morning and being ready for the fight.”

    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/can-chuck-schumer-check-donald-trump

  39. 39.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    March 27, 2017 at 7:44 am

    @Baud:

    “I believe in a way she is more dangerous,” Susan Sarandon told The Young Turks on Thursday. “I don’t know if she is overcompensating or what her trip is. That scares me. I think we’ll be in Iran in two seconds.”

    The former “Thelma and Louise” star said voters are being “fed” a message that Mr. Trump is “so dangerous” – “I don’t know what his policy is. I do know what her policies are.”

    Well, when Sarandon is right, she’s right.

  40. 40.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 27, 2017 at 7:44 am

    @PsiFighter37: WAPo has noted that he’s spend a third of his time in office at his properties.

  41. 41.

    germy

    March 27, 2017 at 7:45 am

    @geg6: Karl, as a former college republican, is framing a narrative he wants reality to fit neatly into. But reality bites.

  42. 42.

    Immanentize

    March 27, 2017 at 7:45 am

    @satby: I know that the exchanges are only a small part of the ACA, but what a critical part. My BiL is self-employed and installs and fixes garage doors in Houston. He has save thousands every year he has been on Obamacare.

    I have employer-based insurance, but that value is fading too. I had surgery last month and — get this — I had to pay a 160 buck co-pay the day of surgery that no one mentioned. Wha?

  43. 43.

    MomSense

    March 27, 2017 at 7:45 am

    @Baud:

    Middle fingers up, put them hands high

  44. 44.

    chris

    March 27, 2017 at 7:47 am

    One down, but it will be back in one form or another.
    Keystone XL gets the Presidential Permit today.
    Executive Order to rescind the Clean Power Plan coming this week.
    More war. Always.
    Gonna be a very long slog. 588 days to go.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 7:47 am

    The President’s eldest daughter has long been a key trusted adviser to her father, through her young adulthood to her time as executive vice president of real estate development and acquisition at the Trump Organization, and, ultimately, during his 2016 presidential campaign.
    Trump will continue to serve in that capacity, acting as the President’s “eyes and ears,” per her attorney, Jamie Gorelick.
    “She will not be his only source of input and insight, obviously, but she may be able to provide insights into the concerns of people whom he might not meet as President,” Gorelick told CNN via email last week.

    Jamie Gorelick has always been gross. She’s one of the people Hillary Clinton should have jettisoned along the way. During the Obama Administration she lobbied against the Administration’s for-profit college rules. Decades after working in government she’s still cashing in on it.

    The Democratic Party would be really well-served by cutting some of these people off. There are a lot of them and they’ve been cashing in on programs and policies that Democrats are (supposedly) opposed to for years. Clean house.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 7:48 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Let’s go with the devil we don’t know, as long as he has a penis.

  47. 47.

    germy

    March 27, 2017 at 7:48 am

    @Kay: I wish someone had stolen Obama’s copy of “Team Of Rivals”

  48. 48.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 7:49 am

    @chris: Why don’t Democrats work with him again?

  49. 49.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 7:51 am

    @Kay:

    The problem with this

    The Democratic Party would be really well-served by cutting some of these people off.

    Is this

    There are a lot of them

    But otherwise, yeah.

  50. 50.

    Iowa Old Lady

    March 27, 2017 at 7:56 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: This long after the election, that quote still makes my blood boil.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 7:57 am

    @germy:

    Trump found something he cares about and will fight for- himself. If Democrats can use that to their advantage they should but I wouldn’t. I haven’t seen anyone benefit from anything Donald Trump has ever done except Donald Trump and his children. Schumer isn’t ideological and he’s tactically smart so he’s really perfect for handling Trump. Someone who actually gave a shit about health care might be vulnerable to Trump’s bullshit.

  52. 52.

    amk

    March 27, 2017 at 7:57 am

    @germy: fucking conman to the core.

  53. 53.

    Lurking Canadian

    March 27, 2017 at 8:01 am

    @Baud: When I got to the gym yesterday morning, Kasich (or maybe Portman? I get those two mixed up) was on CNN complainihg that it was “disgusting” that the Dems wouldn’t “work with” the Reps.

    I don’t know how the hosts responded, but I’m betting it was not the correct answer, which would have been something about tire rims and anthrax.

    What, after all, was Pelosi supposed to do to “help”? “Well, Paul, I don’t think I can get my caucus to go along with 24 million people losing insurance and 30,000 dying each year. You’ll have to come down from those figures: how about 8 million lose insurance and 10,000 unnecessary deaths? I might be able to do that.”

    When one side wants to make things better and the other side wants to make things worse, the status quo IS the compromise.

  54. 54.

    JMG

    March 27, 2017 at 8:03 am

    Tax cuts won’t so easy to pass as all that. Tax cuts that aren’t revenue neutral cannot be passed through reconciliation. They can be filibustered. Takes 60 votes. That’s eight Democrats, more than I think they could get. If the cuts are revenue neutral, it’d require BOTH the ridiculous cuts of the partial Trump budget and cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Hard to see that coming down.

  55. 55.

    Mark

    March 27, 2017 at 8:04 am

    The Buffoon is drawing up an enemies list of Republicans that didn’t support his health care fiasco and plans to retaliate. Doesn’t bode well for any future initiatives on the Buffoon’s part.

  56. 56.

    pk

    March 27, 2017 at 8:04 am

    @Baud:

    , but he needs to fundamentally change who he is as a .

    Maybe Ben Carson can perform brain surgery on him to bring about that change, otherwise it ain’t happening in this lifetime.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 8:04 am

    @Baud:

    I can forgive a lot – I get that she’s an advocate and the client doesn’t equal the lawyer but for-profit colleges are a bridge too far. It has really hampered Democrats in Congress because half of these lobbyists are Democrats. That’s why Obama had to do it thru the CFPB and the Dept of Ed- Democrats in Congress were beholden to people like Gorelick.

    Now we know who’s behind all the “Ivanka is a humanitarian” stories, anyway.

  58. 58.

    efgoldman

    March 27, 2017 at 8:05 am

    @Baud:

    I’m willing to give them a finger.

    Two, even

  59. 59.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 8:05 am

    @Lurking Canadian: From what I’ve seen, there’s a big push for the Dems to make it all better. To which I say, not this time, motherfuckers.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 27, 2017 at 8:08 am

    Headline at the Guardian: ‘He’s a street fighter’: Trump fans rally after heavy blow on healthcare

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA…. gasp….. wheeze…. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….. stop it, yer killing me….

    He’s a Madison Ave fighter you idgits. Has his big brother, a “Brooks Brothers” lawyer, fight all his battles for him.

  61. 61.

    Iowa Old Lady

    March 27, 2017 at 8:08 am

    @Baud: And I say, if they wanted Dems to make it better, they should have voted for them.

  62. 62.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    March 27, 2017 at 8:08 am

    @Lurking Canadian

    When I got to the gym yesterday morning, Kasich (or maybe Portman? I get those two mixed up)

    : How can you mix up Kasich with Natalie Portman? They don’t look the least bit alike.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 8:08 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: We keep talking about the fact that people who are wrong need to be held accountable. Why shouldn’t that apply to people like Sarandon?

  64. 64.

    Martha

    March 27, 2017 at 8:09 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning! (I’m actually commenting in time to be somewhat timely…?)

  65. 65.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 8:09 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: Yep. 2018 and 2020. Then we’ll talk.

  66. 66.

    Eric S.

    March 27, 2017 at 8:10 am

    I Have my one month follow up with my surgeon after rotator cuff surgery this morning. I expect he will recommend I start physical therapy right away. Then off to another grueling work week.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 8:10 am

    @Baud:

    She steals from low income 19 year olds. She may as well knock them over in a parking lot and take their wallet. That’s her job:

    Of interest to students, Gorelick lobbied on behalf of student loan giant Sallie Mae regarding, according to disclosure forms, “Student loan issues as they relate to reform of the Federal Family Education Loan Program” in the years 2009 to 2010. As media reports confirm, Gorelick was part of the intense lobbying campaign by Sallie Mae and big banks to block the Obama Administration’s effort to reform the student loan system by eliminating nonsensical, wasteful loan subsidies to private lenders. The Obama Administration ultimately prevailed over Gorelick and the other special interest lobbyists, and the reform has saved billions for students and taxpayers.

    Cut her loose. There are lots and lots of good people to hire.

  68. 68.

    efgoldman

    March 27, 2017 at 8:10 am

    @Baud:

    he needs to fundamentally change who he is as a person.

    Right. I need to be a foot taller, change my eyes from brown to blue. and lose 25 years, all by force if will….

    LOL is right

  69. 69.

    NorthLeft12

    March 27, 2017 at 8:13 am

    I love how the Republicans [virtually all of them] channel their inner snotty eight year old psyche and say “We never wanted it anyway.” and move on to the next failure.

    BTW My apologies to eight year olds everywhere, but I was trying to evoke certain image and that is the best I could come up with.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 8:13 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: It’s often said they (white) voters want Republicans who will act like Democrats. We’re seeing that now in spades.

  71. 71.

    efgoldman

    March 27, 2017 at 8:13 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Pretty hard to put together a large bill when everyone is always on vac-kay.

    Don’t worry, Granny Starver will get right on it. He’s got three boxes of magick asterisks under his desk.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 8:14 am

    @Kay: Maybe instead we should reach out to her like we need to do with Trump voters.

  73. 73.

    NorthLeft12

    March 27, 2017 at 8:15 am

    Hey, is it possible to arrange for a band of only trombones serenade the House Repubs with a soulful and repeated playing of “Sad Trombone”?

  74. 74.

    PlaneCrazy

    March 27, 2017 at 8:15 am

    Very long time lurker (Bush years), extremely rare commenter. Just wanted to thank y’all for this regular feature, love the photos, and for being an amazing group of front pagers and commentariat. I’ve dropped a bunch of the old sites I used to frequent, but BJ, Digby and Talking Points Memo stay in my daily diet, with occasional nibbles over at the Great Orange Demon. (Daily pundit roundup is always worth a look, and Hunter, but most of the rest I can’t quite deal with regularly).

    Hear’s a raised glass to all BJ’ers everywhere.

  75. 75.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 8:16 am

    @Baud:
    He is an unqualified mediocre White man. They will continue to give him break after break. After all, they resented the shyt out of the competent, excellent Black President. And, if he could do it, how hard could it be????

  76. 76.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 27, 2017 at 8:16 am

    @Baud: What ya gonna do, not watch her movies?

    I think I’ve only seen one of them, but I live in a cave and don’t watch movies.

  77. 77.

    efgoldman

    March 27, 2017 at 8:17 am

    @geg6:

    Karl started yammering about Dolt 45 being transformational.

    He is transformational, really. He’s transforming the White House into a hell hole, the State Department into third grade, the cabinet into moron city….

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 8:17 am

    @JMG:
    Tell it again. That’s why Trumpcare was important. It was a tax cut bill disguised as a healthcare plan.

  79. 79.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 8:18 am

    @NorthLeft12: Much more appropriate than Hail to the Chief.

  80. 80.

    satby

    March 27, 2017 at 8:19 am

    @PlaneCrazy: Good to see you commenting.

  81. 81.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 8:19 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Just treat her like we would Bill Kristol.

  82. 82.

    satby

    March 27, 2017 at 8:20 am

    @efgoldman: and apathetic people into ones paying attention. Though I would have preferred they woke by less drastic means.

  83. 83.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 27, 2017 at 8:21 am

    @Baud: Done!

  84. 84.

    amk

    March 27, 2017 at 8:21 am

    swat team to drown the gobinment in twitler’s nepotism.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 8:23 am

    @Baud:

    I went to a Dem dinner last week and this older man I like used a word I hadn’t heard in a while to describe why he comes- “camaraderie”. That’s one of the things political and civic organizations provide and it’s not a negative, especially in conservative parts of the country. It also recognizes the reality of our system which operates on majorities. Trump really doesn’t have a mandate.

  86. 86.

    sherparick

    March 27, 2017 at 8:23 am

    Although it does help that this is gang of wingnuts that could not shoot straight gave a big victory for the home team, they continue to rapidly destroy EPA rules and regulations, especially effecting, but not exclusively climate change. They continue to gut Labor, Safety, and anti-trust rules. Everyday will be struggle with this crew in power. Document the atrocities, and the answer is always nothing.

  87. 87.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 27, 2017 at 8:23 am

    @PlaneCrazy: Join in, I’ll bet you can snarl with the best of the jackals around here.

  88. 88.

    efgoldman

    March 27, 2017 at 8:24 am

    @Kay:

    Someone who actually gave a shit about health care might be vulnerable to Trump’s bullshit.

    What on Earth makes you think Shumer doesn’t give a shit about health care? I don’t think that’s possibly true about ANY Democrat on Capitol Hill, even (or maybe, especially) the ones from red states.
    If that piece of crap had passed the house, I’m sure Shumer would have been leading and organizing the fight against.

  89. 89.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 27, 2017 at 8:25 am

    @Kay:

    Trump will continue to serve in that capacity, acting as the President’s “eyes and ears,” per her attorney, Jamie Gorelick.
    “She will not be his only source of input and insight, obviously, but she may be able to provide insights into the concerns of people whom he might not meet as President,” Gorelick told CNN via email last week.

    Because Ivanka Trump is always rubbing elbows with just plain folks? What horse shat this horseshit?

  90. 90.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 8:26 am

    @Kay: It might be the only thing that can push back against right wing media.

  91. 91.

    aimai

    March 27, 2017 at 8:26 am

    @rikyrah: Its good to see you smiling again.

  92. 92.

    Baud

    March 27, 2017 at 8:27 am

    @PlaneCrazy: Welcome to the Baud! 2020! campaign!

  93. 93.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 8:28 am

    @amk:

    The nepotism and unearned promotions are bad for ‘Merica. You can’t strut around crowing about merit and hard work unless you model that. It’s false at the core. DeVos goes to 3rd grade classes and tells them to work hard and they’ll get promoted. That may or may not be true but she in no way represents this idea. She bought that job. She’s never had a job she didn’t inherit or buy. Can they not FIND a goddamn welder to promote welding training? They’re insulting these people.

  94. 94.

    Eric S.

    March 27, 2017 at 8:28 am

    @MomSense: I can only lend the left finger on high. The right one would have to remain around cheesy level until therapy shows me to raise that arm.

  95. 95.

    efgoldman

    March 27, 2017 at 8:28 am

    @Baud:

    Why shouldn’t that apply to people like Sarandon?

    Except for no buying tickets to, or videos of, her movies, what else can you do? She’s not elected or a politician so there’s no political way to get at her.

  96. 96.

    aimai

    March 27, 2017 at 8:31 am

    @Kay: Half these lobbyists are not democrats–not after the K street project.

  97. 97.

    amk

    March 27, 2017 at 8:31 am

    @Kay: well, the wwc snowflakes sold their country and their interests to this traitor of a conman. and at dirt cheap rate too.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 8:32 am

    @FlipYrWhig:

    For some reason they dumped Ivanka Trump on Merkel. Because Ivanka is a girl and so is Merkel so they can talk about girl things.

    She is a BAD SPOKESPERSON for young women rising on merit. Bad. The price of entry to the role is rising on merit yourself. You have to pay for stuff! That’s how you pay.

  99. 99.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    March 27, 2017 at 8:34 am

    @FlipYrWhig: She’s always around the sweat shop workers making her schmattas

  100. 100.

    Jeffro

    March 27, 2017 at 8:35 am

    While the Rs are busy trying to let Obamacare fail…let’s be sure to stay busy helping their coalition of jagoffs and evil miscreants fall apart as well:

    1) Freedom Caucus member resigns in disgust at fellow Goopers

    2) Trump hangs AHCA defeat on conservatives

    and then this one, so sweet that I might have to print out a hard copy, roll it up, and smoke it…ahhhhh….

    3) Reince Priebus: it’s time for the GOP to grow up and start governing.

    Oh. My. Goodness.

  101. 101.

    efgoldman

    March 27, 2017 at 8:36 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    She’s always around the sweat shop workers making her schmattas

    Who’s selling those schmattes now? The rag man and his push cart are long gone.

  102. 102.

    sherparick

    March 27, 2017 at 8:40 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: For those not getting Charlie (no, I am not forgiving you Charlie for 30 years of Talk Radio BS) Sykes snark, William Henry Harrison died 30 days to the day after being sworn into office. So, no, for Trump at least, his Presidency has not been as bad Harrison’s.

  103. 103.

    efgoldman

    March 27, 2017 at 8:41 am

    @Jeffro:

    Freedom Caucus member resigns in disgust at fellow Goopers

    Only from the kkkrazy kkkaukus, though, not from the house.

    Reince Priebus: it’s time for the GOP to grow up and start governing.

    Hahahahahahahaha
    Right, rinse. Just after they follow the whatchacallit policy suggestions from after the 2012 elections – you know, the ones that they should reach out to minorities and women….
    Hahahahaahahahahahahahaha

  104. 104.

    low-tech cyclist

    March 27, 2017 at 8:41 am

    Seeing an opportunity, they say they will not throw Mr. Trump a political life preserver at what they sense could be the first turns of a downward spiral.

    I’m going with that old political adage, “when your opponent is drowning, throw him an anvil.”

    Since the Pubbies are talking about trying tax deform* next, the Dems should come up with a populist tax reform themselves. My suggestion for such a bill would be to treat capital gains as ordinary income**, and use the extra revenue to pay for a middle-class tax cut. (And toss in any extra closings of rich people’s and big corporations’ loopholes that they can think of, but this would be the base.)

    Then whatever crap the GOP came up with could be compared with the Dems’ plan.

    *Not a typo.
    ** This would have the pleasant side-effect of killing the carried-interest loophole, which works by having their income treated as cap gains.

  105. 105.

    sherparick

    March 27, 2017 at 8:55 am

    @Baud: The Repubs are Wiley E. Coyote, the Democrats are the Roadrunner; time to hand them an anvil. https://www.google.com/search?q=Wile+E+Coyote+anvil+drops+on+head&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ_say3fbSAhVLNSYKHVckCAAQsAQIGQ&biw=1409&bih=592

  106. 106.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 9:05 am

    Indivisible are having a big NW OH conference in Toledo May 27th and I’m going. I like them, the ones I have met.

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:11 am

    @Lurking Canadian:

    I don’t know how the hosts responded, but I’m betting it was not the correct answer, which would have been something about tire rims and anthrax.

    What, after all, was Pelosi supposed to do to “help”? “Well, Paul, I don’t think I can get my caucus to go along with 24 million people losing insurance and 30,000 dying each year. You’ll have to come down from those figures: how about 8 million lose insurance and 10,000 unnecessary deaths? I might be able to do that.”

    When one side wants to make things better and the other side wants to make things worse, the status quo IS the compromise.

    ICAM

    THIS is the fundamental ‘ problem’ with those who want us to ‘ understand’ Trump Voters.
    And, ‘ he’s the President’ people.

    We fundamentally have different ways of seeing the world.

    When one side believes HEALTHCARE IS A RIGHT..
    and, the other side wants to cut healthcare for poor people so that millionaires can get a tax cut..

    there IS NO COMPROMISE.

    When one side wants to improve things that so even MORE people can get access to healthcare..
    And, the other side has no problem gutting care for 24 million, and tells you to go to the ER….

    there IS NO COMPROMISE.

  108. 108.

    O. Felix Culpa

    March 27, 2017 at 9:12 am

    @Kay: Speaking of Indivisible, here’s a good summary of the legislative process they just published. Useful for resistance strategy. (Schoolhouse Rock was a long time ago.)

  109. 109.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:13 am

    @Kay:

    Now we know who’s behind all the “Ivanka is a humanitarian” stories, anyway.

    Which are complete and utter bullshyt.

  110. 110.

    O. Felix Culpa

    March 27, 2017 at 9:14 am

    @rikyrah:

    Which are complete and utter bullshyt.

    Preach.

  111. 111.

    AxelFoley

    March 27, 2017 at 9:14 am

    @amk:

    Eight years of no, no, no, NO, NO, NO … from the rethugs.

    Dems better remember that.

    This.

  112. 112.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:15 am

    @Baud:

    From what I’ve seen, there’s a big push for the Dems to make it all better. To which I say, not this time, motherfuckers.

    Amen.

    We are NOT going to save these phuckers from themselves.

    BOTH side DON’T DO IT

    and, now, their sociopathy will truly be laid bare for all to see.

  113. 113.

    debit

    March 27, 2017 at 9:15 am

    @sherparick: I propose the official Democratic response to any GOP proposal be: Beep, beep motherfuckers.

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:16 am

    @Kay:

    Cut her loose. There are lots and lots of good people to hire.

    Keep on it, Kay.

    Scum Scum Scum.

  115. 115.

    Jack the Second

    March 27, 2017 at 9:16 am

    @Baud: I think that’s being overly generous.

    White voters want big government racists, who will spend money on white folks while treating everyone else as an extractive resource. They want drug testing for Welfare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare, because they all know deep down all black people are on drugs, but not a penny cut. They want the borders closed to immigration from outside three European countries, and all second generation immigrants deported. They want an end to equal opportunity and “quotas” and free college for white kids.

    Republicans sold themselves as friendly neighborhood racists, while deep down being big city kleptocrats, who just want to burn down the government and loot its corpse to fill their own pockets.

  116. 116.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:18 am

    @PlaneCrazy:

    Hope you comment more :)

  117. 117.

    MattF

    March 27, 2017 at 9:23 am

    And… oh… btw… ‘tax reform’ is code phrase for ‘kill off the mortgage interest deduction along with the deductions for state and local taxes’. And then cut corporate taxes and the high end of income tax rates.

    Because… because, they are middle class ‘entitlements’ and we need to release the immense energy of our frustrated corporate overlords. And so forth. So it’s a pretty direct transfer of capital from the middle class to the wealthy. It’s just bound to be popular.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 9:30 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    They’re busy! They’re also having a more local meeting in a GOP county here. A rep from Sherrod Brown’s office is coming. I’ll go to that one too- it’s one of the 4 counties I work in.

    I have to go to the Dem meeting on Tuesday and mend fences. We met with the Individible people at my house a couple weeks ago and the Democrats thought I “favored” them by letting them talk more. I did favor them.

  119. 119.

    Chris

    March 27, 2017 at 9:30 am

    @rikyrah:

    It’s that, but it’s also the fact of seeing the world in terms of different realities, not just different values.

    In this case – “is it possible to sustain a welfare state providing things like universal health care that won’t ultimately wreck the free market economy because of the taxes and regulations necessary to sustain it” was a perfectly fine debate to be having in, you know, 1917. A hundred years later when every other developed country has been running such a welfare state for decades and in most cases are still doing just fine, the debate is over, and trying to pretend otherwise doesn’t make you a healthy skeptic, it just makes you deluded: which is, of course, where the GOP is at now.

    If only it were just health care; but it’s pretty much everything at this point.

  120. 120.

    laura

    March 27, 2017 at 9:31 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning! How was the movie? Did Peanut enjoy it?

  121. 121.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 27, 2017 at 9:34 am

    @Kay:

    It wasn’t just Ivanka and Jared on that ski holiday. Don Jr. and Eric and their families were there as well. And while Uday and Qusay have told us* that they never discuss the Trump Family Business with their dad, I’m pretty sure they have no such scruples about conversations with their sister and BIL, and naturally, the President’s closest advisors can’t have any secrets from him….

    They all carry the aroma of rottenness and the stench of evil.

    *(You’ll notice I’m taking them at their word here, though I have no reason for doing so.)

  122. 122.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:35 am

    Trump’s Provocation-Based Foreign Policy is Dangerous
    by David Atkins March 26, 2017 4:52 PM

    Today brings news that Donald Trump literally gave German chancellor Angela Merkel a $300 billion bill for NATO expenses last weekend:

    Donald Trump handed the German chancellor Angela Merkel a bill — thought to be for more than £300bn — for money her country “owed” Nato for defending it when they met last weekend, German government sources have revealed.

    The bill — handed over during private talks in Washington — was described as “outrageous” by one German minister.

    “The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations,” the minister said.

    Never mind that this isn’t how NATO funding works. The gall of leveling such a juvenile stunt on a much-needed ally is appalling. But it’s not the first time. Trump has spent his presidency insulting a host of allied countries from Mexico to Australia to China to Sweden to Britain and others. And that doesn’t even mention potentially hostile powers like China and the countries included on his travel ban.

    Of course, the only country that Trump explicitly declines to insult is Russia. Nor is it an accident that Trump seems so upset at funding an alliance designed to help European allies keep Russian military threats at bay. Beyond darker conspiratorial possibilities, Trump sees in Putin’s right-wing, authoritarian, explicitly nationalist, anti-globalist religious conservative leadership a natural ally for him, while he sees Europe as part of the problem. They can’t say it publicly, but Bannon and Trump see Russian oligarchs not just as potentially helpful hackers and destabilizers, but kindred political spirits. Nor is it an accident that both Trump and Putin engage in foreign policy by provocation.

    The difference is that while Russia in its position of weakness and yearning for territorial expansion stands to gain from destabilizing the world order, the United States stands to lose. But Trump and Bannon don’t understand that. As racist nationalists, they see America as the victim of a world that takes advantage of trade deals to send away jobs, and allows immigration to dilute the racial and cultural purity of white western states.

  123. 123.

    NorthLeft12

    March 27, 2017 at 9:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Come on, they won’t believe that documentation, it came from the heathen internet! They will call it propaganda, fake news, or still not sufficient.

  124. 124.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:36 am

    Trump’s Reality Distortion Field is Shattering
    by David Atkins March 27, 2017 3:26 AM

    Greg Sargent at the Washington Post has long been making the case that Trump’s main communications strategy is to assault the notion of shared objective reality itself. In Trumpworld, the only arbiter of crowd sizes or climate science or wiretapping is Donald Trump himself, and everything else is “fake news” regardless of what facts might invalidate his narrative.

    And for a while, it was working. During the presidential campaign, Trump lied with reckless abandon but never seemed to suffer for it. That’s partly because his opponent also suffered from perceived credibility issues, but it’s mostly because the news media treats presidential elections like a game where any claim is in bounds as long as a candidate can get people to believe it. And because Trump is the sort of figure it’s hard to take one’s eyes off of, his tweets and pronouncement manage to derail news cycles and capture attention. It was thought that perhaps we were entering a new political era in which reality simply no longer mattered.

    But campaigns are one thing. Governing is another. And Trump’s reality distortion field is failing him now that he has to grapple with something more than campaign coverage.

    Sargent himself noted this fact almost a week ago, referencing reports that Trump’s tweets were no longer having the narrative-driving force they once did. But the failure of the Republican health plan has cemented the degree to which Trump is losing his ability to gaslight and confuse enough people to get his way.

    Donald Trump has always carefully crafted the image of a tough guy negotiator, through ghostwritten books and reality TV show characters. But it’s not wholly clear that Trump has ever had more than a few tricks up his sleeve: bully people with money and influence, play hardball, pretend to refuse offers, and when all else fails swamp the opposition with attorneys. It’s not exactly a creative arsenal, and Trump wouldn’t have had it available to him in his business career without a lot of inherited wealth and strings pulled on his behalf.

    But when he attempted to play those games with the Republican Congress, they simply laughed in his face. When he attempted similar gambits against the federal judiciary over his travel bans, the judges simply used his own words against him.

  125. 125.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:38 am

    Anatomy of a Disaster: Trump Didn’t Care, and the GOP Didn’t Have a Plan
    by David Atkins March 25, 2017 3:52 AM

    s dawn breaks over the wreckage of the GOP’s failed attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, one thing is abundantly clear: the Republican Party is not ready to govern. Its chief executive is uninterested in policy details, and far too many of its Congressmembers are too beholden to AM radio platitudes to effectively govern.

    First, the President. During the campaign Donald Trump used Obamacare as a punching bag, but was all over the map in terms of what he would replace it with. The whimsical real estate developer was on the record praising Canada’s system of universal government coverage, saying that “it works.” Over the course of the presidential election Trump limited himself to more traditional Republican talking points, but in typical fashion never presented any specifics. But he did make promises that sounded good: universal coverage, no cuts to medicaid, more benefits, lower prices, and just about everything short of a unicorn in every stable. It was clear to anyone who listened that Trump had absolutely no background in healthcare policy or why the subject had bedeviled both parties for decades: as with his business empire, he simply assumed that if he snapped his fingers and told people to make it happen, it simply would. In Trump’s world, the only reason hard things don’t get done is because no one of sufficient power and Nietzschean will gets surly and angry enough to scare the little people into doing them. As with so much else in his first two months in office, President Trump was in for a rude awakening about how the world really works: “nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated,” he said. Not exactly. Everybody knew but him, and he didn’t really care enough to find out.

    Which leads us to Speaker Paul Ryan and the GOP Congress. Paul Ryan is often touted as a policy guru, but he’s been unmasked as a dilettante. Seven years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Republican lawmakers still didn’t have a coherent plan to replace it. The bill that Ryan and team did come up with essentially maintained the basic structure of the Affordable Care Act, but replaced subsidies with measly tax credits while eliminating requirements that insurers actually cover a wide range of illnesses, and switched out the mandate for an even more onerous tax penalty. The result was a cruel, incoherent plan that didn’t commit to free-market ideology and please hardline conservatives, and was even worse in terms of cost and coverage than plain repeal would have been, thus angering moderate Republicans and ensuring a total blockade from Democrats.

  126. 126.

    MomSense

    March 27, 2017 at 9:39 am

    @Eric S.:

    You now have the best PT goal. Here’s the song for your workouts.

    I Ain’t Sorry

  127. 127.

    GregB

    March 27, 2017 at 9:39 am

    So listening to a Republican Congressional toolbag n CNN. It is beginning to sound that their plan is to claim that Flynn is the sole bad actor in the campaign and dump everything on him.

    Which also leads me to conclude that he has cut a deal with the FBI.

  128. 128.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:40 am

    Trump Built His Own Prison
    He’s barely been in office for two months and he’s already cut off every possibility for success.

    by Martin Longman March 25, 2017 10:42 AM

    A lot of people will read the following excerpt and take away from it more confirmation that Donald Trump doesn’t know or care about policy, and that’s a legitimate takeaway. But I think, ultimately, any Republican president would eventually get to the same place with the Freedom Caucus on health care or many other issues, regardless of the underlying merits of what they were discussing. So, I’d like to offer a limited defense of how Trump reacted:

    Donald Trump had heard enough about policy and process. It was Thursday afternoon and members of the House Freedom Caucus were peppering the president with wonkish concerns about the American Health Care Act—the language that would leave Obamacare’s “essential health benefits” in place, the community rating provision that limited what insurers could charge certain patients, and whether the next two steps of Speaker Paul Ryan’s master plan were even feasible—when Trump decided to cut them off.

    “Forget about the little shit,” Trump said, according to multiple sources in the room. “Let’s focus on the big picture here.”

    The group of roughly 30 House conservatives, gathered around a mammoth, oval-shaped conference table in the Cabinet Room of the White House, exchanged disapproving looks. Trump wanted to emphasize the political ramifications of the bill’s defeat; specifically, he said, it would derail his first-term agenda and imperil his prospects for reelection in 2020. The lawmakers nodded and said they understood. And yet they were disturbed by his dismissiveness. For many of the members, the “little shit” meant the policy details that could make or break their support for the bill—and have far-reaching implications for their constituents and the country.

    “We’re talking about one-fifth of our economy,” a member told me afterward.

    …………………………….

    What’s important, though, is that reality has a way of asserting itself, and if there are limited paths for achieving basic minimal governance, those pathways will become better marked with every week that passes without progress on Trump’s legislative agenda.

    On the Breitbart front, it’s getting hard to tell when the organization is acting at Steve Bannon’s instruction and when they are running independently from him, but they’re going very hard against Paul Ryan. Their article looks to me like it contains concocted anonymous quotes. They just read less like how people actually talk and more like how a bad scriptwriter would create dialogue. The intent is clear enough, though, which is to try to foment a coup against the Speaker so that a Freedom Caucus member can take his place.

  129. 129.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:42 am

    The GOP Only Wants To Investigate, Not Be Investigated
    by Nancy LeTourneau March 24, 2017 8:48 AM

    One of the most ridiculous arguments made by Republicans during the House Intelligence Committee hearing on Monday is that the real danger to our country is the actual investigation into whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. In other words, investigating those possible ties is more dangerous than finding out whether or not a sitting president worked with an adversary to influence our elections.

    Beyond the fact that this is an absurd argument to make, it also happens to be drowning in irony for anyone who has been paying attention over the last 25 years. You might recall that this is the same party that pursued investigations of Bill Clinton almost continually for his eight years in office. To do so they had to make the case that we faced an impeachable moment if our sitting president lied under oath about having sex. Clearly they didn’t think that an investigation into whether or not that happened was dangerous.

    But that was simply the crescendo moment of investigations. Republicans also didn’t think it was dangerous to investigate whether or not the Clinton’s improperly fired White House staff or if they somehow benefited from a failed land deal in Arkansas or any other of the myriad of things they investigated in the 1990’s.

    You might say, “Well, that was a long time ago. Things have changed.” But obviously the Republicans didn’t think it was dangerous to investigate whether a president (or a subsequent candidate for the presidency) nefariously failed to use the appropriate words to describe an attack on our facility in Benghazi. Even now, Republicans seem intent on finding a way to make Obama the culprit in Trump’s lies about being wiretapped.

  130. 130.

    bystander

    March 27, 2017 at 9:43 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    If Claude Rains wasn’t dead he would be perfect for the role of Schumer.

    But for the 12 inch difference in their heights. Claude was a peanut.

    Just reading about Nunes being at a meeting in Trump Hotel DC with Flynn and the Turkish foreign minister. I still think Nunes is dirty and compromised. The only explanation for that “I’m crapping my pants” routine last week.

    ET correct place of meeting.

  131. 131.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 27, 2017 at 9:44 am

    @Kay:

    He does not care what happens to people and their health care. He cares about himself. He was fine with the bill when he thought backing it meant he could rack up “wins”.

    I saw a report over the weekend, and am sorry I can’t track it down right now, that in one of his closed-door meetings with Republican legislators last week — maybe the one with the Freedom Caucus — he went around the room and asked each one what the margin of victory was last November in each of their districts.

    Not the Representative’s margin. His. Yes, nearly five months after the election, he is still obsessed with the huuuuge bigness of his electoral win. It is so abnormal and out of kilter, it’s almost embarrassing to think about.

  132. 132.

    NorthLeft12

    March 27, 2017 at 9:44 am

    @David Canadian Anchor Baby Koch: I thought you were going to refer to his roles in Casablanca or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

    Funny how Mr. Rains seemed to excel in those roles.

  133. 133.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 9:45 am

    If Trump were serious he would meet with Hillary Clinton on this health care problem he has.

    Oh, God, would I laugh. He has to go to her house, is the rule :)

  134. 134.

    O. Felix Culpa

    March 27, 2017 at 9:45 am

    @Kay:

    I have to go to the Dem meeting on Tuesday and mend fences. We met with the Individible people at my house a couple weeks ago and the Democrats thought I “favored” them by letting them talk more. I did favor them.

    Here in Santa Fe County, we rewarded some of the chief local Indivisible organizers by electing them to represent us at the state Democratic Party. My Ward (well not “mine” as in ownership, but as in Ward Chair) is eager to organize along the Indivisible model too, with particular focus on local issues. Appropriate development focused around land and water use – and opposing fracking and wanton extraction – is a constant battle.

  135. 135.

    zhena gogolia

    March 27, 2017 at 9:47 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    What a magnificent actor he was.

  136. 136.

    ?eric

    March 27, 2017 at 9:48 am

    @GregB: NEVER throw the anvil to a man with no scruples and who knows where the bodies (likely literally) are buried. You are supposed to make sure he lives a comfortable life when his stint in the pokie is over. far be it from me to tell these idiots what to do….

  137. 137.

    Chris

    March 27, 2017 at 9:48 am

    @rikyrah:

    The whining about NATO isn’t new, but God, is it tiresome.

    The irony is that there is one country that actually took responsibility for its own defense – France, in the De Gaulle years, when it actually pulled out of NATO, asked that American troops on its soil be withdrawn, and developed its own nuclear deterrent and a more independent foreign policy. Did the U.S. say “oh, good. At least someone’s taking responsibility for their own defense and it means less work for us”? Of course not. It wailed loudly and angrily about French “ingratitude.” Fifty years later, it still can’t STFU about it.

    Germany right now is this in reverse: for the last seventy years, it’s maintained extremely low defense spending and military power, because the U.S. (not just the U.S, but it was very much part of the group) didn’t want it to – a rearmed Germany was the last thing anyone wanted in a post-1945 world. Now, all of a sudden, Trump’s decided that this policy, which we forced on the Germans in the first place, is really a sinister conspiracy by the Germans to screw us out of our money.

    American whining about its NATO allies is pretty much the ultimate case of “Tellarites do not argue for a reason. They simply argue.”

  138. 138.

    Kay

    March 27, 2017 at 9:49 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Ivanka flat out lied about her involvement in the administration. She did that deliberately. She wanted to wait until the initial questions dissipated. It worked, too. She has the role she wanted with no accountability and no transparency.

    The Trump’s operate by knowing that other people will follow norms that they don’t. They see the world as suckers and winners. Suckers follow rules. Ivanka is relying on the norm that says people won’t attack a President’s kid. It is ESSENTIAL to the Trump’s success that other, lesser people follow rules. That’s their edge.

  139. 139.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 9:51 am

    One can only hope.

    ……………

    Following failure, Paul Ryan’s reputation may never be the same
    03/27/17 09:20 AM
    By Steve Benen
    A month ago today, CNN ran a report on House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) efforts to prepare his party to advance an ambitious far-right agenda. The piece described the Wisconsin congressman as a “legendary wonk.”

    Not just a wonk, mind you, but a legendary wonk.

    The phrasing was a striking reminder of Ryan’s most impressive skill as a politician: convincing much of the Beltway establishment that he’s a knowledgeable policy expert with few, if any rivals on Capitol Hill. Ask some of Ryan’s admirers to point to any specific examples of the Speaker actually earning such a reputation, however, and they’ll generally hem and haw – because for those who care about the details, the fact that the GOP lawmaker speaks in complete sentences, and occasionally uses jargon that makes him appear knowledgeable, is not enough to mask the fact that Ryan isn’t a wonk, a legend, or even an especially capable Speaker of the House.

    If there’s any justice, the failure of the ridiculous health care bill that Ryan wrote behind closed doors, and then failed to persuade his own members to support, should do permanent damage to the Speaker’s standing. The New Republic’s Jeet Heer noted last week that the demise of the American Health Care Act “should strike at the real root cause of the mess: The powerful, persistent Washington myth that Ryan is a policy genius.”

    Paul Krugman called him a “flimflam man,” pointing out that the numbers Ryan touted in his imaginary budget didn’t add up, with the proposed tax cuts creating much bigger deficits than Ryan acknowledges. The AHCA fiasco vindicates Krugman’s harsh judgment. The “reform” was hated not just by Democrats but by actual Republican policy wonks – people who were critical of Obamacare, but saw the AHCA as doing nothing to make it better. […]

    Ryan has been a scammer all along. He’s not a more serious Republican who offers a welcome relief from the frothing of the Tea Party. He’s an Ayn Rand acolyte who fully shares the agenda of the hard right on economic matters. And his long con is now obvious for all the world to see. “Never give a sucker an even break,” W.C. Fields used to say. Anyone who continues to think of Paul Ryan as a legislative wizard or a serious policy thinker richly deserves to be called “sucker.”

  140. 140.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 27, 2017 at 9:52 am

    @GregB: I don’t know Flynn at all, but the last thing I can imagine is his taking one for the team.

  141. 141.

    O. Felix Culpa

    March 27, 2017 at 9:54 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: Oh, and Trump’s budget would cut water assistance money to us ruggedly independent Westerners: http://bit.ly/2nY8LyJ

  142. 142.

    Chris

    March 27, 2017 at 9:55 am

    @rikyrah:

    I’d love to see that guy tossed out on his rear end. Sure, whoever replaced him would be just as bad, but is there any worse case of unearned VSP-cred in Official Washington right now?

  143. 143.

    oldster

    March 27, 2017 at 9:58 am

    Great post title, Anne!

    And exactly the right historical analogy to invoke: if Hitler had won the Battle of Britain, then the Nazi invasion would have followed, and the war would have gone much worse. America would have lost its essential staging ground off the coast of France which allowed for the liberation of Europe.

    But Hitler lost the Battle of Britain, just as Trump and Ryan lost the Battle of Obamacare. The War would last for years, but it was already on a far better trajectory.

    And soon, Hitler would be having deep problems with Russia.

    As Churchill said, “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning.”

  144. 144.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 10:00 am

    On public policy, Trump combines ignorance and indifference
    03/27/17 08:42 AM—UPDATED 03/27/17 09:48 AM
    By Steve Benen
    The day before the Republican health care plan collapsed, Donald Trump met at the White House with some of the bill’s House critics. As Politico noted, the president knew that the members had substantive concerns, but he didn’t care.

    Donald Trump had heard enough about policy and process. It was Thursday afternoon and members of the House Freedom Caucus were peppering the president with wonkish concerns about the American Health Care Act – the language that would leave Obamacare’s “essential health benefits” in place, the community rating provision that limited what insurers could charge certain patients, and whether the next two steps of Speaker Paul Ryan’s master plan were even feasible – when Trump decided to cut them off.

    “Forget about the little s**t,” Trump said, according to multiple sources in the room. “Let’s focus on the big picture here.”

    This posture, not surprisingly, failed spectacularly. The “little s**t,” as the president called it, referred to the substantive details of the health care debate that stood between success and failure. But Trump was dismissive, in part because he knew effectively nothing about the policy he was trying to pass, and in part because he didn’t care to find out.

  145. 145.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 27, 2017 at 10:01 am

    @Kay:

    Ivanka is relying on the norm that says people won’t attack a President’s kid.

    Guess she never heard Rush Limpdick refer to Chelsea Clinton as the “White House dog”.

  146. 146.

    NorthLeft12

    March 27, 2017 at 10:01 am

    @efgoldman: The schmatta was a given in our kitchen and at the family dinner table [not when guests were there though]. I still call the dishrag that to this day. and I always smile when I say it.
    BTW I am Polish and ex-Catholic. When I look up schmatta, it is specifically identified as Yiddish, but my long deceased Mom was not so subtly anti-Semitic, so I am surprised we used that term around the house. I always thought it was a Polish term, not Yiddish.

  147. 147.

    Corner Stone

    March 27, 2017 at 10:01 am

    @rikyrah:

    The New Republic’s Jeet Heer noted last week that the demise of the American Health Care Act “should strike at the real root cause of the mess: The powerful, persistent Washington myth that Ryan is a policy genius.”

    Chuck Todd on MtP yesterday called Paul Ryan a “policy wonk”.

    The biggest knock you hear about Paul Ryan, that it rings true, Tom, is that here’s this incredible policy wonk who hates politics, and he took a job that is all politics. Now he didn’t want the job, and he knew he wasn’t as suited for it as others want him to be.

  148. 148.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 10:03 am

    In the wake of failure, Republicans eager to push tax cuts
    03/27/17 08:00 AM—UPDATED 03/27/17 08:13 AM
    By Steve Benen
    The Republican effort to tackle health care reform was one of the more dramatic legislative fiascoes in recent memory, but GOP officials apparently don’t intend to spend much too time licking their wounds. On the contrary, Republicans want to quickly make the transition to tax reform.

    Politico had an interesting piece over the weekend, which quoted House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) on his party’s plans.

    Positing that health care was about to die, I asked Brady if re-writing the tax code would be any easier. “Tax reform is the hardest lift in a generation,” he told me, shaking his head. “So that would be a big challenge.”

    “If you couldn’t get health care done,” I ask him, “how can you get tax reform done?”

    Brady thought for a moment. “Every Republican is all-in on tax reform. We still have a lot of work. But it’s just a natural issue for us in a very positive way.”

    And while on the surface that may sound compelling – GOP lawmakers intend to move from one effort that cut taxes for the wealthy (health care reform) to a different effort to cut taxes for the wealthy (tax reform) – Republicans also seemed united in their opposition to the Affordable Care Act. As recent developments made clear, like-minded ambitions do not a legislative victory make.

    So why would tax reform be “the hardest lift in a generation”? In part because of the scope and scale of the task: Republicans aren’t just talking about tax cuts; they want to pass tax reform – the first time since 1986 that federal policymakers have effectively tried to re-write the nation’s tax code.

    To be sure, the U.S. health care system, which affects one-fifth of the American economy, is incredibly difficult to overhaul. But the U.S. tax code affects nearly all of the economy, making it that much more challenging.

  149. 149.

    Cermet

    March 27, 2017 at 10:03 am

    @Chris: So very true and exactly what thugs do best – cry like babies when they don’t get what they want and then cry when they do get it but discover they can’t profit from that goal. Also, nice “Enterprise” reference.

  150. 150.

    Corner Stone

    March 27, 2017 at 10:04 am

    Does Jared Kushner somehow go into a phone booth and then come out as Superman? Apparently the dude can do anything and everything all at the same time.

  151. 151.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 10:05 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 3/24/17
    Schumer: Wrong to vote on Gorsuch while Trump under investigation
    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talks with Rachel Maddow about why Senate Democrats should oppose Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, and why the confirmation should be postponed until investigations of Donald Trump are resolved

  152. 152.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 10:06 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 3/24/17
    Schumer: ‘Art of the Deal is out the window’
    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talks with Rachel Maddow about the failure by Donald Trump and Republicans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, and the power of the grassroots effort to thwart Trump.

  153. 153.

    Chris

    March 27, 2017 at 10:06 am

    @Cermet:

    TOS! Not Enterprise. Said by Sarek in, I think, “Journey To Babel.” :P But thank you!

  154. 154.

    Corner Stone

    March 27, 2017 at 10:07 am

    @GregB:

    It is beginning to sound that their plan is to claim that Flynn is the sole bad actor in the campaign and dump everything on him.

    Which also leads me to conclude that he has cut a deal with the FBI.

    Flynn has flipped so hard he would make Greg Louganis blush.

  155. 155.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 27, 2017 at 10:07 am

    @Corner Stone: Ya know, if Paulie hates politics he could just get out of that game. Resign as Speaker and resign from Congress.

  156. 156.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 10:07 am

    Two months out of office, Barack Obama is having a post-presidency like no other
    By Krissah Thompson and Juliet Eilperin
    March 26

    The first cocktail party at Barack Obama’s new office last month was certainly more casual than any he had hosted in recent years. The wine bore a random assortment of labels, as if assembled potluck-style. The self-serve appetizers were set out in the narrow hallway. The host, tieless, eschewed formal remarks, as a few dozen of his old administration officials — Joe Biden and former chief of staff Denis McDonough, as well as more junior ones — mingled in a minimalist wood-paneled suite that could be mistaken for a boutique law firm.

    “It was a bit of a shock to the system,” said Peter Velz, who used to work in the White House communications office. “You’re bumping up right against the vice president as he’s getting cheese from the cheese plate.”

    As the dinner hour drew near, the former president exited with a familiar excuse, Velz recalled: “He was joking if he doesn’t get back to Michelle, he’s going to be in trouble.”

    So far, Obama is trying to approach his post-presidency in the same way as his cocktail-hosting duties — keeping things low-key, despite clamoring from Democrats for him to do more. “He is enjoying a lower profile where he can relax, reflect and enjoy his family and friends,” said his former senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

    But the unprecedented nature of this particular post-presidency means his respite could be brief. Even while taking downtime at a luxurious resort in the South Pacific last week, Obama put out a statement urging Republicans not to unilaterally dismantle his signature health-care law.

    Not only are the Obamas still young and unusually popular for a post-White House couple, but their decision to stay in Washington while their younger daughter finishes high school has also combined with the compulsion of the new Trump administration to keep pulling them back into the spotlight.

  157. 157.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 27, 2017 at 10:08 am

    @Chris: The conservative whining about how every other country is out to screw America is bogus. The post WWII agenda was set by the United States, from the UN to NATO to the more recent WTO. United States has benefited from all those arrangements. Dollar is the reserve currency of the world, United States is the biggest military power of the world. The non stop whining is nauseating.

    ETA: That the Republican party and their financial backers have decided to screw over the rest of the 99% is not Germany’s fault.

  158. 158.

    Corner Stone

    March 27, 2017 at 10:12 am

    It’s amazing that now that R’s and Trump completely failed to dismantle President Obama’s signature legislation, the D base (and others not exactly D base) are completely engaged and fired up, that somehow the Democratic Party is just waiting on their tippy toes to work with Trump on an “Infrastructure Bill”.
    No. Nope. Not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.

  159. 159.

    hueyplong

    March 27, 2017 at 10:13 am

    @oldster:

    I think Churchill was talking about the win at El Alamein, not the Battle of Britain, but the point — and the thread title — are still good.

  160. 160.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 27, 2017 at 10:16 am

    @Corner Stone: I have no idea how to do it but we need the MSM to stop acting like the propaganda arm of the Republican Party.

  161. 161.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 27, 2017 at 10:18 am

    @hueyplong: Fuck Churchill, the starver of 3 million Indians during WWII.

  162. 162.

    Ohio Mom

    March 27, 2017 at 10:18 am

    @Lurking Canadian: I’m guessing it was Governor Kasich who was bemoaning the lack of cooperation from Democrats. He’s been trying to pass himself off as some kind of let’s-meet-in-the-middle moderate for a while now.

    I suspect he still has his eye on the White House and is positioning himself as the grown-up in the room, admonishing us to all behave better and reach out in compromise. As a future POTUS candidate, he’s hungry for as much of the spotlight as possible.

    As far as I can tell, Senator Portman’s M.O. is to quietly go about being a dick.

    How to tell them apart? Kasich is grayer and pudgier, Portman is taller and has a more chiseled face. I’m impressed that you are interested in telling them apart.

  163. 163.

    ArchTeryx

    March 27, 2017 at 10:19 am

    Look, the Republican leadership tried to do what I feared they’d do from the first day they took power: Commit mass murder by fountain pen. And while that was colored by my own ox about to be gored, it’s hard to deny that tens of thousands of preventable deaths every year, by malign neglect at best, would not amount to mass murder. We as Americans are experts at malign neglect, but this was a bridge too far.

    The fact that we managed to stop them when they were in total control of government is a huge boost for our side. Being the Party of Hell No is a lot easier and more fun then actually governing, and the Republicans are learning that the hard way.

    So they get all the opprobrium of committing attempted mass murder by fountain pen, and get none of the “benefits” of actually sticking it to the poor this time out. Yay us! So let’s build up and have our own wave in 2018, now that WE are the party totally locked out of power nationwide.

  164. 164.

    Chris

    March 27, 2017 at 10:19 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Yep. Of course, whining from a position of privilege is what conservatives do. In the U.S. or elsewhere. Why should they stop at domestic stuff?

  165. 165.

    Corner Stone

    March 27, 2017 at 10:20 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Once again, every question is being framed as how do the Democrats find a way to work with this president and the GOP.
    It is our burden to bend our principles to accommodate the temperamental man baby so that he can get a win. And then he will shit all over us.

  166. 166.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 10:20 am

    White Man Who Allegedly Went to NYC to Hunt Black Men Says He Meant to Kill Younger, More Successful Person: Report
    by DANIELLA SILVA

    The white supremacist accused of fatally stabbing a black man with a sword in New York City said he would have rather killed a younger — or older and more “successful” black victim.

    “I’m sorry I killed that man,” James Harris Jackson told the New York Daily News at the Rikers Island jail on Sunday. “It was pitch black, I picked a dark place. I didn’t know he was elderly.”

    Jackson, 28, told the newspaper he would have killed “a young thug” or “a successful older black man with blondes … people you see in Midtown.”

    The Baltimore man is accused of taking a bus to New York City specifically to kill black men. Police say he confessed to randomly picking out victim Timothy Caughman on the street and stabbing him to death with a 2-foot sword.

  167. 167.

    oldster

    March 27, 2017 at 10:20 am

    @hueyplong:

    Huh. You are exactly right. My memory failed me (again).

    Okay, but in the words of another great statesman, “Forget about the little shit. Let’s focus on the big picture here.”

    Oh–that wasn’t Churchill? It was part of an earlier bunker speech by Hair Furrer?

    Darn that bad memory of mine!

  168. 168.

    hueyplong

    March 27, 2017 at 10:21 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Fucking Churchill is ok by me.

  169. 169.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 27, 2017 at 10:21 am

    @Corner Stone: We don’t have to do nothing. Non-cooperation. MSM can DIAF.

  170. 170.

    Corner Stone

    March 27, 2017 at 10:22 am

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m getting an odd sensation, a kind of tingle that is telling me it’s possible you may not care for Msr. Churchill.
    I got the same kind of vague impression this weekend from a comment Botsplainer made about Ivanka and the other Trumps.

  171. 171.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 10:22 am

    Dark Rhode: The Effort to Silence Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse
    by D.R. Tucker March 27, 2017 5:00 AM

    It’s obvious why they want him gone.

    If you watched last week’s Senate confirmation hearings for unqualified Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, you saw just how effective Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) can be when it comes to challenging right-wing ideology. Gorsuch was intellectually overpowered by Whitehouse, a former US Attorney and state Attorney General.

    Whitehouse is arguably the right’s biggest nuisance. Conservatives cannot stand his criticism of the special interests responsible for destroying democracy in the United States in the seven years since the Citizens United decision. They cannot stand his condemnation of the fossil fuel industry on the Senate floor, and his full-throated call for the return of bipartisan action on climate change. They cannot stand his strict scrutiny of the Trump administration.

    If the Senate changes hands in the 2018 midterm elections, Whitehouse will have a more prominent platform to tear apart conservative claptrap. As David Bernstein noted last year, had Democrats won the Senate in 2016, Whitehouse would have likely become chair of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, currently in the clutches of arch-denier John Barrasso (R-WY). Whitehouse as EPW chair would be a nightmare for Carbon Inc.–a nightmare the fossil-fuel industry and its allied interests would rather avoid.

  172. 172.

    Corner Stone

    March 27, 2017 at 10:25 am

    It’s now considered laughable that Trump would be required to “get into the weeds” on any piece of legislation. And actually understand what is in the bill and what parts are important to which factions.
    But that’s ok that it is laughable! Because everyone knows and agrees that’s not his strongsuit. And that’s ok. Hahahaha! Trump spending time understanding legislation that effects people’s lives! What a larf!

    The bar is still being lowered. Every freaking day, after every lashing out, blaming tweet rant or failure. The bar gets notched a little lower to continue moving forward.

  173. 173.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 27, 2017 at 10:28 am

    @Corner Stone: Step away from the TV, your BP is spiking.

  174. 174.

    The Moar You Know

    March 27, 2017 at 10:34 am

    I have employer-based insurance, but that value is fading too. I had surgery last month and — get this — I had to pay a 160 buck co-pay the day of surgery that no one mentioned.

    @Immanentize: Sing that song loud. I was in a bad way and I had a 100% medically necessary procedure last year. Checking in, the billing person hands me the phone and says my insurer (UHC, Gold Plan, PPO, good as we can get) wants to talk to me. $1,000 on the barrelhead, to cover the entire remaining amount of my deductible – or they’re not doing the procedure.

    You could not have robbed me more effectively than if you’d used a gun.

  175. 175.

    Mike J

    March 27, 2017 at 10:35 am

    @Baud:

    Schumer is so much savvier than Trump. If they work together, Trump will be his bitch.

    The real problem is that Schumer knows that to negotiate well,you have to let the other guy think he has a win. Many people on our side would be livid if Trump got to say he had win even if the bill nationalized all the banks and set up a guaranteed income program.

  176. 176.

    Chris

    March 27, 2017 at 10:40 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    I continue to maintain that health insurance in this country today is just licensed organized crime.

  177. 177.

    The Moar You Know

    March 27, 2017 at 10:45 am

    Art of the (plea) deal:

    (CNN)President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has volunteered to speak to the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of its investigation into Russian meddling in the US election, a White House spokesman said Monday.

    “Throughout the campaign and transition, Jared Kushner served as the official primary point of contact with foreign governments and officials,” the White House spokesman told CNN in a statement. “Given this role, he has volunteered to speak with Chairman Burr’s Committee, but has not yet received confirmation.”

    Christ, this will not end well.

  178. 178.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 10:59 am

    @Kay:

    Indivisible are having a big NW OH conference in Toledo May 27th and I’m going. I like them, the ones I have met.

    Please report back to us, Kay.

  179. 179.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 11:27 am

    @Jack the Second:

    White voters want big government racists, who will spend money on white folks while treating everyone else as an extractive resource.

    White socialism…..

  180. 180.

    rikyrah

    March 27, 2017 at 11:30 am

    @laura:

    Good morning! How was the movie? Did Peanut enjoy it?

    We both loved it. It was a beautiful production.

  181. 181.

    No One You Know

    March 27, 2017 at 12:26 pm

    @NotMax: Thanks, Max.

    I called and the aide I spoke with told me that the all-out push for health care meant there hasn’t been time to look ahead the legislative calendar.

    The ensuing conversation was enlightening. At the risk of stating the obvious, our reps need to hear from us when they’re so tired…
    we give them energy, a chance to recoup, and reconnect with the people they serve.

    I’ve put the Washington and local numbers for my representatives my phone now, and will be a bit more assertive about using them in future.

  182. 182.

    artem1s

    March 27, 2017 at 2:39 pm

    @Jeffro:

    3) Reince Priebus: it’s time for the GOP to grow up and start governing.

    JFC, Reince Priebus lecturing the GOP on growing up is a fucking farce. If that was the goal of the GOP then they should kneecapped Twittler 18 months ago. If he really believed that he would have kept the GOP from kneecapping Michael Steele and turned down the job in the first place.

  183. 183.

    brettvk

    March 27, 2017 at 3:50 pm

    @Immanentize: You’re not the first person I’ve heard this from – the surprise! cash copay right before the outpatient surgery. Why does this happen so often? And how often does someone have to walk away because they don’t have the money? Maybe the friend/relative with you to drive you home afterward is really there to be a second credit card.

  184. 184.

    Uncle Cosmo

    March 27, 2017 at 4:33 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    What horse shat this horseshit?

    As we well know, The road apple doesn’t fall far from the horse’s ass.

  185. 185.

    J R in WV

    March 27, 2017 at 9:25 pm

    @Immanentize:

    ” I had to pay a 160 buck co-pay the day of surgery ”

    Mrs J had knee replacement surgery about 6 months ago. She was going over the remaining medical bills earlier today getting stuff ready for the taxes. She noted that the operating room cost $30,000…. not that we paid that, just that it was the cost from the hospital…!!!

    So a $160 co-pay isn’t much to go on about.

    No offense, no one likes surprises.

  186. 186.

    J R in WV

    March 27, 2017 at 9:34 pm

    @PlaneCrazy:

    If you have any opinions, we would be glad to hear them. Even if they seem dim to us, we’ll be interested and talk about them. ;-)

    They probably won’t, given your reading list.

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